Mid-Bedfordshire by-election: Mainstream candidate says party is about plain speaking politics "even if it upsets people"

The “plain speaking ” Mainstream candidate said he is standing up for Mid Bedfordshire’s “mainstream majority”.

Chris Rooney said: “In recent politics, all the big parties have all polled less than 50 per cent at the last election.

“If you look at the polls now here in Mid Beds, Labour is on something like 29, the Tories are on 22 or something.

“I think there’s a need for a party that reflects an average of the majority of views, and then they get 51 per cent or more in the polls,” he said.

Rooney said he has been “very lucky” in life and is standing so he can give something back to society in return.

“I reckon that for every person that stands for Parliament that’s probably a thousand men and women who would love to do it,” he said.

“But they can’t because they’ve got family commitments, young children, they haven’t got the money for the printing and the deposit. I’ve got some spare time and I’ve got enough money to stand.”

Rooney said Mainstream is about plain speaking politics, “even if it upsets people”.

“I’m totally totally different from other candidates, I’m nothing like the establishment,” he said.

“I don’t talk anything like them, I use mild profanities when I talk and I’m certainly not going to stop doing that when making a speech. I’m not like any of them and hopefully that’s an advantage. Our policies are different on crime and especially knife crime, which is so topical at the moment.

“All the Tories have done, and they’ve been in power for 13 years, is tinker around. They say they’ve been tough on knife crime, but all they’ve done is give magistrates the option if they want to impose a longer sentence.

“That’s not what we want, because they nearly always don’t do that,” he said.

Rooney said the Sentencing Council should be abolished and any knife crime would have a custodial sentence.

“We’re paying far too much tax, but we need lots of money spent on the health services,” he added.

“Just stop giving money away to other countries, David Cameron made a big thing about 0.7 per cent of the national GDP goes to foreign aid. But I’m sorry, it wasn’t his money that was going out, it was our money.

“In the present cost of living emergency I think we have to say ‘it’s an emergency, let’s put our own people first just for once.

“People want a change, and they’d certainly have a change if they vote for me,” he said.

The Mid Bedfordshire by-election will be held on October 19, and 13 candidates are standing to replace the former MP, Nadine Dorries.